A call center is a centralized office that receives and transmits a large number of requests by telephone. A call center may provide product support or information requested by consumers. Outgoing calls may be made for telemarketing and debt collection. A call center is often operated by call center agents having work stations that include a computer for each agent and a telephone set/headset (telset) connected to a telecommunications switch. The call center may be independently operated or may be networked with additional centers. It may be linked to a corporate computer network that includes numerous computers and local area networks (LANs). Voice and data pathways into the center are frequently linked through technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).
Most major businesses use call centers to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies and mail order catalog firms. Customer support for computer hardware and software businesses are also frequently operated via call centers. All types of businesses sometimes service internal functions such as help desks and sales support through call centers.
The calls received or intercepted by a call center may be recorded. Covert monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party is sometimes called telephone tapping or wiretapping. Legalized wiretapping by police or other recognized governmental authorities is called lawful interception. Using the existing Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), Wireless, and Cable Systems, lawful interception is generally performed by accessing the digital switches supporting the target's calls. A good lawful interception system provides transparent (undetected) interception of specified traffic only.
Call data (known as Intercept Related Information or IRI in Europe and Call Data or CD in the US) includes information about the targeted communications, including destination of a voice call (e.g., called party's telephone number), source of a call (caller's telephone number), time of the call, duration, etc. Call content refers to the stream of data carrying the call. A lawful interception management function covers interception session set-up and tear down, scheduling, target identification, and so on. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has its own call data, including data derived from Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages that are used to set up and tear down a VoIP call. Passive wiretapping observes call data flow and gathers information. Active wiretapping attempts to alter the data or the flow of data.
Call recording software or call logging software allows a party to record a telephone conversation, whether PSTN or VoIP, to a digital file format. Reasons for recording call traffic include: reducing company vulnerability to lawsuits by maintaining recorded evidence, complying with laws, increasing security, training employees, providing performance reviews, verifying data, sharing data, improving customer satisfaction and so on.
A facial recognition system is a computer application for programmatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. In some systems, selected facial features from the image are compared to a database of cataloged facial features. Some facial recognition algorithms identify faces by extracting landmarks, or features, from an image of the subject's face. For example, an algorithm may analyze the relative position, size, and/or shape of the eyes, nose, cheekbones, and jaw. These features are then used to search for other images with matching features. Other algorithms normalize a gallery of face images and then compress the face data, only saving the data in the image that is useful for face detection. A probe image is then compared with the face data. Popular recognition algorithms include eigenface, fisherface, the Hidden Markov model, and the neuronal motivated dynamic link matching algorithm.
Three-dimensional facial recognition uses three dimensional sensors to capture information about the shape of a face and is then used to identify distinctive features on the surface of a face, such as the contour of the eye sockets, nose, and chin. Three-dimensional facial recognition is not affected by changes in lighting like other techniques may be. It can also identify a face from a range of viewing angles, including a profile view. Another technique uses the visual details of the skin, as captured in standard digital or scanned images. This technique, called skin texture analysis, turns the unique lines, patterns, and spots apparent in a person's skin into a mathematical space.